Decorating Your Aquarium

Things to Consider if You Use Things You Find as Aquarium Decorations

(The First Tank Guide)

Why Should I Be Concerned About what I Decorate My Aquarium
With?

There are several things to be concerned about with any item or decoration you put in your aquarium, or any
piece of equipment you use with your aquarium. Generally these all
boil down to is this thing going to hurt my fish? Generally,
if you are purchasing your decoration or equipment from a reputable pet shop as an aquarium decoration or
piece of aquarium equipment, everything can be assumed to be aquarium
safe.

However, there are still issues to keep in mind, such as not using
sea shells or coral skeletons in freshwater aquariums because they can
cause problems with chemistry (see 4 and
6 below). Of course, at a good pet shop,
someone would be likely to point this out to you before you made the
purchase...

Here are the seven primary concerns you should have when
considering items to use as aquarium decorations:

Is the item aquarium safe? Will it dissolve in water or release
toxins into the water, or react with some of your chemicals or
additives to produce a toxin. If you understand what could cause a
problem like this, and what might react with your chemicals, and what
the items you are choosing are composed of, then this is not an issue,
otherwise, this could be a cause of problems. Remember, many
plastics can release potentially toxic chemicals when submerged in
water for long periods of time.

Is the item you are collecting clean? Has it been exposed to some
kind of waste, such as petroleum, cleansers, detergents, perfumes, or
other potential toxins or irritants that could be dangerous to your
fish? If it has, do you have a reasonable means of safely removing
this from the item - and of telling whether it is there in the first
place? If not, you should not use the items in your aquarium.

Is it possible for the item, or a piece of the item, to be
consumed by fish? Can your fish eat or bite off pieces? Is this a
problem? Many fish will bite or chew on things, however, biting off a
piece of a soft rock may be fatal, or may release a toxin that was
previously secured inside the rock, or may expose a layer of something
water soluble that could dissolve in the water and cause
problems. Chewing on wood can be good for some fish, but some plant
matter can be harmful to some fish. You should be familiar with these
issues before collecting items for use in your fish tank.

Is the item going to decompose or degrade in water? If the item
becomes soft or begins to fall apart when it is in water for a
prolonged period, this can cause problems with chemistry (see below)
or with the aquarium safety of the item or possible consumption issues
(see above).

Is the item bearing some kind of pathogen or parasite? Baking,
boiling, or in some cases, exposing to ultra-violet light can often
eliminate pathogen risks, and this is probably the easiest to deal
with (and the most commonly thought of) concern with using found items
in your fish tank.

Is the item going to cause chemical changes in the water? Some
items, such as sea shells, limestone, coral skeletons, and wood can
cause changes in pH or hardness, or can cause other issues with water
chemistry. These can cause problems for your fish, or difficulty in
maintaining the tank.

Is the item going to be sharp or abrasive? This is not only an
issue with found or collected items, but also with items you purchase
from a shop. If fish run into items with sharp corners or edges, or
items that have a rough surface, it is likely that a fish will get
injured. The flightiness of the fish you are getting, the size of the
tank, the number of other hiding places, the size of the 'rough' item
in question (particularly when compared to the tank as an environment
and the fish in question), the number potential 'fright' factors in
the environment around the tank, and other factors contribute to the
risk with an object like this.

If I Have Something and Want to Use It in My Aquarium, How Do I
Clean It?

If there are any chemical issues, hardness issues, consumption
issues, or exposure to toxins (as noted above) with the item, you will
need to not use the item in your aquarium.

However, if the item is known to otherwise be aquarium safe, you
can clean it for use in your aquarium.

First, I would recommend washing the item thoroughly in cool
running tap water. You will probably want to take a stiff bristled
brush (which has not been used with household
cleansers or other dangerous chemicals) and scrub down the item to
make sure you have removed anything that can be removed - this may
also expose that the item was softer or more fragile than you
expected, and therefore inappropriate for an aquarium
decoration. Remember, if a stiff bristled brush can damage the surface
of the item you are cleaning, then a fish can probably damage it as
well - and it may become even softer after being under water for a few
days or weeks...

Once you have cleaned the item, you will want to sterilize it. The
two easiest ways to do this are to boil the item or bake the
item. Either way, you want to get the item to a core temperature above
200°F for at least ten minutes, though longer is better. This
should kill anything living on or in the item that could survive in
your fish tank. Again, this may warp, damage, or change the item you
are trying to sterilize. If this does alter the item, then the item
probably was not safe for use in your aquarium to begin with.